Men Have a Lot to Thank Women For… Even Beer

Women can claim the title of "Beer Inventors", but you may not like the reason why we created it.

I'll admit that I'm a woman who enjoys a good beer. I love craft brews and generally opt for the dark, stout varieties. I'm not the only woman out there who enjoys cracking a cold one to celebrate or let off steam. Women have been enjoying a good brew for centuries.

And we should, because we invented it.

That's right, men! The secret is out. Thanks to extensive research from Jane Peyton, an alcohol historian, it's been determined that women were actually the ones to brew the first beer, 7,000 years ago. However, before women start popping tops in celebration, you may want to know why we invented it.

We were stuck in the kitchen.

Way back when, the kitchen was the woman's domain and since brewing is a part of cooking, it was ours to discover. Since women were expected to cook the meal, they were also expected to serve the drinks. In those early years, women brewed the beer and ran the taverns. Some were even called "Ale Wives." What killed it? The Industrial Revolution when beer began to be brewed in a factory.